Youth In Revolt: 4 Designers Shaping Toronto Fashion Week

Toronto Fashion Week’s latest iteration saw young designers energize a stagnant industry with a wave of streetwear. Toronto, Canada is not a fashion capital and this three-day event made it clear it shouldn’t try to be with static presentations and an open designer showroom promoting a direct-to-consumer model that worked.

After IMG shutdown the cities only fashion week in 2016 the industry splintered into a series of disjointed shows that eroded Toronto’s appeal to global buyers. National designers took to international markets like LVMH's Vejas Kruszewski and returning designer Andrew Coimbra, who opted to present his SS18 collection at Palais De Tokyo during Paris fashion week.

The disrupters behind RE/SET looked to align with the newly rebranded Toronto fashion week as they both entered their third season for FW18. The unified approach still played favor to the designers at RE/SET whose multi-platform marketing saw Supreme junkies lining up to see the presentations.

Youth in revolt distinguished the few collections that made Toronto feel cool with streamlined looks and one-off merchandise items that would be captured outside the runways of New York fashion week. V Magazine rounds up the four designers redefining Toronto as the North’s streetwear capital.

Designers Eric Richards and Rahul Madan presented a dystopian gang with meticulous fabrication in their menswear collection. The ethnically diverse cast of models are dawned in layered looks including a branded turban and boiler suit of baby blue latex. The styling drove the collection home with bright yellow drawstring cords at wrist of the metallic winter jacket and updated corduroy tracksuit accenting the shoelaces. There was a special note to the unisex accessories including metal chains, repurposed buckles and a variety of bags. Less than a year old WIL STUDIOS already has clientele like Daniel Caesar as an early adopter of Canada’s next Supreme.

Drag queens and the Queen of England inspired the Montreal design duo’s latest globally themed collection. Tinashe Musara and Andy Long Hoang described the most-avant-garde presentation of the week as “royals on acid” with glasses that are too weird for words and tulle accessories that added to the showmanship. As a whole, the collection focused on real craftsmanship by utilizing denim, a focus on outerwear and an array of color that enriched a very muted week. Attendees were representing the brand with their signature sweaters, like the embroidered hack on “Maison Margiela Marijuana” available in the designer showroom as the most hyped direct-to-consumer brand.

Andrew Coimbra has championed his eponymous label in global arenas while remaining a true Canadian designer. His irreverent practice plays off the collections last theme of “rude” with an even ruder punk line of well-tailored streetwear. yellow python detailing, a branded headband, and collaged graphic t-shirts felt early Vetements. The use of layering played to the merchandising capabilities of the collection that included logo t-shirts and sweaters that are already available through his online retailer.

It doesn’t matter what I say because A$AP Rocky has already worn the gender-neutral designs of S.P.Badu. The collection most aware of the zeitgeist driving fashion adopts the early-2000s in his recasting of the Matrix. Lustre of the plastic looking jackets, matching pants to cropped leather puffer jacket feel tough on the racially diverse and radically dressed models. Founded in 2015, S.P. Badu is beyond first impressions in producing a collection that stood alone within a week of questionable taste. There is something angry about the clothing that feels in-your face, handing credit to the designer for putting out a line-up that until now was distinctly not Canadian.